The European Commission (EC) has unveiled a formal proposal for a 10-year, €4.05 billion ($5.2 billion) follow-on to Europe's Clean Sky civil-aviation research program. Draft regulations for the investment packages for Clean Sky 2 and similar public-private joint technology initiatives (JTI) in four other industry sectors will now go to the European Parliament and European Council for approval. Objectives of Clean Sky 2 include reducing carbon-dioxide, nitrogen-oxide and noise emissions by 20-30% compared to those from aircraft entering service in 2014.
Xavier Tardy has been appointed CFO of Airbus Military, succeeding Christian Pechmann, who has been named chief financial and commercial officer of Eurofighter. Tardy has been CFO of EADS North America and Airbus Americas.
India is proceeding with a long-delayed plan to develop an indigenous regional civilian aircraft in the 70-100-seat range. The plan is to build a composite airframe, powered by two next-generation turboprop engines, officials say. Other features may include a fly-by-wire control system and advanced avionics. Design and development of the aircraft is expected to cost 43.55 billion rupees ($728 million), and series production would entail another 32 billion rupees, according to the proposal.
For the first time in seven years, the Pentagon is updating its rules of engagement for cyber operations, including major retaliatory strikes, while the Obama administration is implementing a first-ever “playbook” for how the U.S. government is supposed to deal with digital attacks.
When Innovative Solutions and Support signed on with Eclipse Aviation in 2007 to replace the original semi-completed cockpit in the Eclipse 500 very light jet, the primary means of navigation and weather for many pilots in the nascent fleet was a Garmin GPS496 portable on the dashboard.
Mark DeYoung (see photo), president/CEO of Alliant TechSystems (ATK), has been named one of the 100 CEO Leaders in STEM by STEMconnector, a network dedicated to linking those advocating science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education across disciplines and distances. He was honored for his leadership at ATK and his commitment to advancing STEM.
Paul Lemmo has been named senior vice president-corporate strategy and business development for the Lockheed Martin Corp., Bethesda, Md. He succeeds Patrick M. Dewar, who is now executive vice president of Lockheed Martin International. Lemmo was vice president of the Information Systems and Global Solutions Business Development and Strategy division.
Amy F. Hopkins (see photos) has become director of strategy and analysis and Thomas E. Laux director of the mission campaign for combat support and mobility for the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Redondo Beach, Calif.-based Aerospace Systems sector's business and advanced development organization. Hopkins was a professional staff member of the U.S. Senate's Committee on Intelligence. Laux was deputy assistant Navy secretary for air programs.
Reader William Mangan's reaction to UAVs being a menace to society “Aiming at UAVs” (AW&ST July 1, p. 8) is a classic example of “straining at gnats while swallowing camels.” He raises concerns about UAVs monitoring the populace but ignores the real privacy invasion menace posed by commercial and criminal entities already present within our society. Blaming UAVs for all of these ills strikes me as a popular press-inspired smokescreen.
Talk of composites tends to focus on the materials in the forms used by aircraft manufacturers—tows, tapes and fabrics. But work is underway to reduce the cost and improve the performance of composite structures by looking at the carbon fibers that give the material its strength and stiffness.
I feel confident many readers have sent notes about the height of the Airbus A380's tail as cited in “Mixed Feelings” (AW&ST July 8, p. 22). Although it's fun to imagine the size of a behemoth carrier with a nearly 1,000-ft.-high tail, I'm betting the writer meant that the aircraft sports a 24-meter (78.7-ft.)-high tail. Middleburg, Va.
Three organizations may get a chance to fly their electrospray microthrusters on a future orbiting testbed, following their selection for “game-changing” development grants from NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate. Picked to negotiate for grants are projects proposed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Busek Co. of Natick, Mass., and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Concerning Pierre Sparaco's commentary on the future of one-person cockpits (AW&ST June 24, p. 20), one pilot will never be sufficient until the capability is available to also remotely fly the aircraft. This could easily be implemented in almost any fly-by-wire system today with just a little software. The radios to communicate with the airline headquarters exist, as do flight computers capable of flying an aircraft autonomously.
Frederick J. Piccolo, president/CEO of the Sarasota (Fla.) Manatee Airport Authority has been elected chairman of the Airports Council International World Governing Board, for a two-year term beginning in January. He succeeds Yiannis Paraschis, CEO of Athens International Airport, who will become immediate past chairman. Elected vice chairman was Declan Collier, chief executive of London City Airport. Piccolo has been vice chairman, and Collier was president of ACI Europe.
Finally, a key House panel is backing legislation aimed at putting congressional weight behind an FAA effort to spur general aviation business and activity. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee unanimously approved the proposed Small Airplane Revitalization Act on July 10. A companion bill in the Senate has 11% of the upper chamber's support even before being voted on by the counterpart committee there.
Arianespace will loft the Eutelsat 25B and Indian G-Sat 7 satellites together on an Ariane 5 by the end of August, following the launch of Europe's Alphasat I-XL and India 's Insat 3D atop the heavy-lift rocket scheduled for July 25. The missions will mark the third and fourth of a planned five Ariane 5 launches in 2013, followed by the Astra 5B satellite for Luxembourg-based fleet operator SES this fall.
When George W. Bush's administration approved a proposal in 2005 by a Dubai ruling family-owned company for an acquisition that would have given Dubai Ports World control over shipping operations at six major U.S. ports, the American public and Congress rightly raised sharp concern that the U.S. government had failed to recognize the national security risks. Ultimately, public opposition sank the deal. Now, it appears that the Obama administration is poised to make a similar misjudgment. This time, the U.S.
Pierre Sparaco's “The End of Redundancy” described the European Commission's Advanced Cockpit for the Reduction of Stress and Workload research project, aimed at upgrading automation to allow single pilots in airliners. Should that pilot become incapacitated, the automation would presumably take over and land.
NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman's frank, revealing press briefings following the July 6 crash of Asiana Flight 214 have gained her some supporters, as evidenced by a fan club on Twitter, and touched a few nerves. Two days into the probe, the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) declared it was “stunned” by the “unprecedented” amount of data released by the NTSB so quickly, such as the aircraft's airspeed and altitude as it sank toward a crash-landing. Absent broader context, ALPA said, such data can be misconstrued, leading to premature conclusions about a crash's cause.
Todd Reichert pilots the Atlas human-powered helicopter on the June 13 flight that won Canada's AeroVelo team the long-unclaimed $250,000 Sikorsky Prize offered by AHS International, while his progress is monitored by chief structural designer Cameron Robertson (right) and team member Trefor Evans. Atlas flew for 65 sec., reaching a height of 3.3 meters (11 ft.) and staying within a 10 X 10-meter box, to win the prize. Photo by Martin Turner of Visiblize.com
Engineers at NASA's Glenn Research Center have tested a rocket engine injector made with additive manufacturing (AM), the 3-D printing process that allows complex shapes to be crafted in a fraction of the time and cost of traditional machining. Aerojet Rocketdyne produced the injector assembly, which fired liquid oxygen and gaseous hydrogen in the test series, using high-energy lasers to melt metallic powder in a build-up process.
